


Ghosts

by st_crispins



Series: St. Crispin's Day Society shorts [8]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 19:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8340721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_crispins/pseuds/st_crispins
Summary: Hauntings...





	

They come at night  
When the room is still,  
And the bed, unshared.

They come on waves of memory  
That crash like breakers and  
Wash away sleep.

There are hundreds, thousands;  
They are legion.

This one's throat was cut,  
That one's neck was broken.  
This one burned, and  
That one sizzled with electric current.  
This one fell off a train.  
That one plummeted from a roof.  
This one was shot, and  
That one was blown to bits.

They jostle each other  
In the small, small space  
Between waking and dreaming,  
Angry, cursing, baring teeth,  
Pointing to their festering wounds,  
Wagging accusing fingers.

Because you see,  
It was my knife that cut,  
And my rope that garroted;  
My lighter that flamed,  
My hand at the switch.

I was the one who pushed  
Or struggled,  
Or stepped aside.

I pulled the trigger first,  
Or hit the plunger.  
But I feel no sympathy for them, or guilt.

They all deserved their fate.  
They would have done the same to others  
Or worse.

The only thing that stopped them  
Was me standing in their path.  
And so, I close my eyes to them  
And turn into my pillow.

Eventually, frustrated,  
They drift away.

I have no fear of ghosts.  
They are all helpless, impotent now.  
Just names in a file,  
Stories told over drinks.  
Fragments stored for a future memoir.  
They can do no harm.

That doesn't mean I sleep undisturbed.  
Pills or liquor sit on my bed stand  
More times than I can count.  
Because it's the ones that got away,  
The ones who are still out there,  
Not yet ghosts,  
Who keep me up at night.


End file.
